Leave Out All The Rest
by The Lonely Executioner
Summary: Skyler gives the unmated Carpathian males a reason to hold on for one more day. Her actions also make Dmitri understand why he has to wait just a little longer for her... Warnings: SONGFIC, vague mentions of Carpathian male lifestyle


**Leave Out All The Rest**

The Lonely Executioner

**Summary:** Skyler gives the unmated Carpathian males a reason to hold on for one more day. Her actions also make Dmitri understand why he has to wait just a little longer for her...

**Disclaimer:** Song nor Carpathians belong to me, dammit. The song 'Leave Out All The Rest' is by the band Linkin Park, while the Carpathians are copyrighted by author Christine Feehan. :((

**Author's Note:** On the off-chance that the story uploads funny, I offer apologies.... My laptop hasn't got Microsoft Office and as all of us remember, WordPad sucks major arse...

Skyler Rose Daratrazanoff smiled shyly as she walked onto the stage with her Aunt Savannah. This was going to take Aunt Savannah's incredible magic to make it make sense to the Carpathian males... Most of the lifemates were participating in some form or fashion, be it contributing memories of lost lifemates who didn't meet in time or memories of the old Carpathian couples from Vlad Dubrinsky's time or earlier.

"Warriors and ladies, may I present, for your entertainment, Skyler Daratrazanoff?"

Skyler took a deep curtsey before the gathered crowd of several dozen... _So few... So very, very few..._ She hoped that what she was doing tonight would help some of the nearly lost warriors hold on for a little longer. She hoped that it would help _him_ understand her a little bit better...

The music started and Savannah began weaving her magic, flashes of the old lifemates appearing before their very eyes.... Beautiful couples, sometimes holding babies, sometimes standing with children, grown men, grown women... The Carpathian families. Close ups of the mother's sad eyes, especially after she had lost a baby or discovered that her beloved son had not sought the dawn... There was a kind of death in their eyes, like the sweetest, most precious part of their soul had been murdered...

Skyler let her voice lilt into the song.

_I dreamed I was missing_

_You were so scared_

_But no one would listen_

_'Cause no one else cared_

They had chosen to show the lives of the Malinov brothers and of a vampire Destiny had met as she was discovering what it meant to be a lifemate... The only vampire they knew of that had met his lifemate, only to have his lifemate kill him...

There were images now of ten little boys, playing warrior, sheriff and robbers, shapeshifting... These were borrowed memories from the De La Cruz brothers, who had been so generous as to assist with Skyler's 'little project'.

_After my dreaming_

_I woke with this fear_

_What am I leaving_

_When I'm done here?_

Some of the warriors that were near to turning weren't looking too impressed and Skyler used a bit of her empathic abilities to push echoes of the emotions she was feeling into their heads as they watched the images passionlessly.

Destiny's memory of Pater and her old friend, their confrontation was the next scene Savannah wove before the crowd...

_So if you're asking me_

_I want you to know_

_When my time comes_

_Forgive the wrong that I've done_

_Help me leave behind some_

_Reasons to be missed_

_And don't resent me_

_And when you're feeling empty_

_Keep me in your memory_

_Leave out all the rest_

_Leave out all the rest_

Skyler's own memories of humans who were possibly even worse than the vampires, the men who had hurt her so deeply that she felt she'd never be worthy of a lifemate, were shown next and Skyler closed her eyes. She knew she was dirty, tainted, unclean... She felt like she'd never be clean again, but she had to do this.

_Don't be afraid_

_I've taken my beating_

_I've shed but I'm me_

_I'm strong on the surface_

_Not all the way through_

_I've never been perfect_

_But neither have you_

Images of the heros, Lucian and Gabriel, her uncle and father, were shown, their centuries of deceptions and Lucian's own twisted way of keeping his brother from turning... She meant for them to show that no Carpathian male was perfect, except in the eyes of their lifemate.

Next were someone's memories of Ivory Malinov, the Malinov brothers, and the De La Cruz brothers. Something about the way the crowded around her protectively made Skyler feel warm inside.

_So if you're asking me_

_I want you to know_

_When my time comes_

_Forgive the wrong that I've done_

_Help me leave behind some_

_Reasons to be missed_

_And don't resent me_

_And when you're feeling empty_

_Keep me in your memory_

_Leave out all the rest_

_Leave out all the rest_

Savannah drew on the memories of the lifemated males who remembered the darkness, the numbness of being without the one that made them complete. They had planned this down to the second...

_Forgetting all the hurt inside _

_You've learned to hide so well_

_Pretending someone else can come _

_And save me from myself_

_I can't be who you are_

Each of the female lifemates had contributed their own memories of inadequacy, of being smothered alive, of wondering why them. The magical memories of realizing that their lifemate did love them, was willing to accomodate them. Skyler had even contributed the memories of her first encounters with Dmitri.

_When my time comes_

_Forgive the wrong that I've done_

_Help me leave behind some_

_Reasons to be missed_

_And don't resent me_

_And when you're feeling empty_

_Keep me in your memory_

_Leave out all the rest_

_Leave out all the rest_

_Forgetting all the hurt inside _

_You've learned to hide so well_

_Pretending someone else can come _

_And save me from myself_

_I can't be who you are_

Skyler's voice went begging as her eyes searched for Dmitri amongst the crowd...

_I can't be who you are...._


End file.
